IT FIGURES

(disclaimer: numbers and figures presented are taken from several internet sources, and some may not be accurate--but you already knew that, huh?)

"Using past patterns of growth as a baseline, religious sociologist Rodney Stark has projected an LDS population of 265 million by the year 2080. Using this projection, Stark has predicted that the LDS church will become the next major world religion." --Encyclopedia of Mormonism

did you know....?

....the current world population is ~6.9 billion people

....the current population of christians is ~2 billion

....the current population of muslims is ~1.4 billion

....the current population of hinduism is ~1 billion

....the current population of buddism is ~1 billion (some debate here--silly commies)

....the current number of jews in the world is ~14 million

....the current number of mormons in the world is ~14 million

....the current number of mormon missionaries is 52000 (while in the MTC in 2000 i was told several times that there were 50000 missionaries, so that's an increase of ~2000 in the last 11 years)

....the current annual world growth rate is ~1.2-1.4%

....the current annual growth of the mormon church is 2.5-3%

....the current annual growth of the rest of christianity is 5-7% (depending on denomination)

....70-80% of new mormons no longer go to church after their first year of membership.

....overall mormon church activity rate is ~50%

....in order for mormons to "convert the world" every member of the church (active or not) would need to baptize 485 people

....in order for mormons to "convert the world" every missionary would need to baptize 130769 people

....to do this before the world population doubles (estimated ~58 years--well before Rodney Stark's projection of the growth of mormonism) each missionary would need to baptize 2254 people a year--but by that time, it would only be half the population

....most missionaries are lucky to see 1 baptism per companionship, so if you figure each missionary will have 5-10 companions, then about 5-10 baptisms for a two year mission would be high

....if rodney stark's prediction is correct (265 million mormons in 2080) it will still be under 2% of the projected global population

....by this time the populations of all other major world religions will be 2-4 billion each

....the current population of "non-religious" people is ~1.1 billion and is currently the fastest growing religious category in the USA

BIG > small

there is a lot of talk nowadays about "the man" and "big business" and the "evil corporations" taking over their smaller counterparts. we can certainly see examples of this since the economic crisis a couple years ago. bankrupt businesses like WAMU were bought out by the bigger and more survivable Chase bank. and i still dont know what happened to circuit city.

there seems to be a stigma against successful business models. i mean, look at walmart. now, i dont particularly like walmart, but that is mostly because it is too big geographically and i really dont like walking a quarter mile across the store when all i need is hand soap and mac and cheese. also, i would rather perform a self-lobotomy than stand in those lines. but as a business model, i think walmart is genius. it is incredibly convenient for lots of random things and it provides jobs for tons of people. sure, it isnt exactly a dream job, but neither is being a part-time barista at a local organic coffee shop.

but really, the problem as i see it is more fundamental. i dont think most people understand the real difference between a small local business and a corporation. all they seem to see are the differences in policy or business tactics or federal regulations. but these differences only come into play AFTER a business is classified as a corporation. since all businesses start out small and innocent, what turns them into an evil corporation? in a word, people.

the only fundamental difference between a big business and a small one is the number of people working for the business. once a small business grows to a certain point, it is then and forever more called a corporation. so why is it bad that a small business has become successful enough to employ lots and lots of people? well, it's not.

there is no economic advantage to having a crap-load of poorly-run, and over-valued small businesses instead of a few insensitive, and successful big ones (consider how many families have health care because of walmart. now think of how many small businesses cant afford to offer health care at all). and yet we are fed this garbage in the media all the time. especially when it comes to businesses which pride themselves on being small (unsuccessful) businesses, such as the organic foods industry (who's entire existance is based on the notion that the other guys are liars and bullies). and the funny thing is, most of these "whole foods" and "organic" companies are in fact large enough to be classified as corporations. they just choose not to tell people that. its sort of like the sheriff of rottingham not telling the townsfolk his name is "mervin." denial of truth doesnt affect its truthiness.

now, i dont really care if the organic foods industry survives or not, since, like most gimmicks, it is wholly unnecessary and backed by bad science. but it interests me that there is so much resistance against becoming larger and more successful within their own niche of the market. and why? so they can stifle their own growth and fizzle out like the tobacco industry? ...hmmm.

scratch that, corporations suck.